Prepare Yourself to “March” Into the Peak Spring Real Estate Season

The greater Houston real estate market has continued to show strength in sales, while pricing was mixed. The strongest segment for sales was the $250,000 to $500,000 range, with some softening in the lower end and higher end of the spectrum. As we move through the year, we will see how an improved jobs outlook and various pieces of legislation impact the housing market. For the complete story about our real estate market, please read here.

We all live in a more global community, with information moving across continents in nanoseconds. You can take part in the interest from international buyers by earning your Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation. The top countries that all CIPS designees deal with include China, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and India. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to earn your CIPS designation. It’s a five-day, intensive course, so you can read all about it here.

Commercial Gateway is a gem among the HAR family, and you can find out more about how to harness its marketing power for commercial properties here. CommGate.com displays all commercial listings to the public, just like HAR.com displays residential properties. Members of Commercial Gateway are allowed to upload an unlimited number of commercial listings, and CommGate has partnerships with the Houston Business Journal, Houston Chronicle, the Greater Houston Partnership, among others.

The cover of this month’s magazine is about TREPAC, which is one of my passions in my profession—and it should be for you as well. TREPAC helps protect your business interests and the rights of private property owners. Whether it is helping prevent the taxation of your personal automobile used for business purposes or banning transfer fees on transactions, TREPAC has been there fighting for you and your clients every step of the way. Find out more about TREPAC here and how you can invest here.

The HAR Technology Department continues to innovate for the benefit of us all. There will soon be the ability to recommend a REALTOR on HAR.com to allow agents to invite past customers and clients to leave testimonials. (here.) Agents logged into HAR.com will also be able to leave feedback about agents with whom they have worked. All comments will be subject to an approval process, so nothing will go on your page without you approving it. You can read more about this, the new Showings tab on your profile (here), and how to customize neighborhoods on your profile here.

March is an extremely important month in politics, as the primary elections will be taking place on March 6. Early voting started last month. Make sure to take a look at the recommended candidates list here, as well as all of the information you will need to make sure voting goes smoothly for you here.

Until next month,